An eminent Shag researcher writes

Thankfully, this e-mail does contain some birds and some estuary (although more central and north estuary than I like).

Once again the e-mail in-box has been dominated by a Mr Trellis of the Gower, south Wales (I really hope he works out the 'comments' button here one day soon). It followed my recent post on Cormorants and the promise to follow up with a short note on Shags on the estuary.

Mr Trellis kindly supplied me with a photograph he took some years back at Kingsnorth, on the northern shore of the Medway. Birders will instantly recognise Shags, local birders might also recognise a youthful Bill Jones.

Two ridiculously tame young birds came to recognise the stench given off by Bill, prone as he was to collecting specimens from the Power Station intake grilles (leading to a massive fish species list for the site, a story for another day). Actually, the smell may have been his specimen bucket, we were never too sure. Over the course of a few weeks the birds came to appreciate both Bill and his bucket, which in turn led to their gaining BTO rings. There is no such thing as a free lunch with Bill.

In addition to the photograph, Mr Trellis supplied me with some interesting observations on Shag behaviour and timings for Kingsnorth and Nor, so I really have no excuse for not finishing the note. Watch this space...

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(Bill and his bucket have featured before, see this Little Egret story)